THIS INVENTION relates to a system for monitoring and/or evaluating performance of an operator of a controllably movable object and in particular but not limited to a system for monitoring and/or evaluating performance of a driver of a vehicle and providing an indication of performance relating to one or more aspects of driving behaviours.
Organisations such as businesses and Government authorities own or operate large numbers of machines and equipment which have at least one movable component. The movable components can usually be controlled by operators.
Most families, individuals and groups of individuals also own or operate some machines and equipment with controllable movable components.
Examples of the machines and equipment are vehicles such as cars, motor bikes, trucks, tractors, different types of earth working vehicles, air crafts, boats, cranes, overhead cranes, drag lines, conveying lines in process plants, shaping and cutting equipment in workshops and electrically or fuel powered tools.
It is known that the usual life expectancy, operating costs, resale value and the frequencies of maintenance of these machines and equipment correspond directly to operator behaviours.
It is also known that the these machines and equipment often cause accidents which may lead to injuries to operators or people, and damages to the machines, equipment and properties nearby, as well as damages to themselves, when they are not operated in accordance with appropriate guidelines or appropriate standards.
Therefore there is a need for a system which can provide a measurable performance and/or a feed back of an operator when operating one of such machines and equipment. Examples of the feed back can be an audio indication such as a buzzer, a visual indication such as light, or any other indication.
Businesses such as fleet owners and insurance companies will be able to monitor operating performances of different operators and to offer incentives to operators with good operating performances.
Government authorities and family members will also be able to use the system for encouraging and reinforcing improved operator performance.
Such a system will also indicate aspects of operating behaviours which require attention. Teaching and tutoring programs for correcting operating behaviours can therefore be objective.
The applicant is aware of certain prior attempts to provide systems for monitoring operational parameters of vehicles. These prior art systems require sensors for measuring the desired operational parameters such as speed, engine RPM, brake application, etc., to be positioned at or close to vehicle components from which measurements of the parameters are taken. U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,305 to Kondo is an example of such attempts.
The prior art systems are intended for use in a single vehicle and can not be readily removed for use in another vehicle once they are installed. Skilled automotive technicians are usually required to install these systems as their sensors are to be fixedly mounted to said components or parts of the vehicles that are close to said components. Automotive technicians are also required to attend to the removal of the installed system as the vehicle parts must be removed before removing the sensors.
The prior art systems may also interfere with the complex electronic systems of modern vehicles as they may be directly connected to the electronic systems.
These systems also need to be recalibrated when reinstalling in the same or different vehicles.
The prior art systems are limited in their ability to monitor lane changing or turning of a vehicle. These systems therefore can not be used to evaluate a full range of driver behaviours.
Power consumption of the prior art systems is relatively high and unregulated. Batteries for these systems must be of large capacity and therefore bulky, or be replaced at a relatively short time of use. Alternatively the systems must draw on the vehicle""s power supply.
Hereinafter, these vehicles, machines and equipment are referred to as xe2x80x9ccontrollably movable objectsxe2x80x9d.
An object of the present invention is to alleviate or to reduce to a certain level one or more of the prior art disadvantages.
In one aspect therefore the present invention resides in a system for monitoring and/or evaluating performance of an operator of a controllably movable object having operational parameters and at least one of the operational parameters change with behaviours of the operator. The system comprises a housing member with a chamber therein, a sensing unit positioned on said housing member or in said chamber, the sensing unit having one or more sensors, each sensor being arranged to sense one of said operational parameters; a processing unit coupled to receive signals representative of the operational parameters from said one or more sensors, to process the received signals and to provide output signals corresponding to the performance relating to one or more aspects of the operating behaviours of said operator; and an indication unit arranged to receive the output signals and to thereby provide an indication of the operator performance.
In another aspect therefore the present invention resides in a system for monitoring and/or evaluating performance of an operator of a controllably movable object having operational parameters and at least one of the operational parameters is changeable when varying an aspect of operating behaviours of the operator. The system comprises a sensing unit having one or more sensors, each sensor being arranged to sense at least one of said operational parameters including a parameter for turning of said object to a different direction and/or movement of the object along a curved trajectory; a processing unit arranged to receive signals representative of the operational parameters from said one or more sensors, lo process the received signals and to provide output signals corresponding to the performance relating to one or more aspects of the operating behaviours of said operator. The system is characterised in that said one aspect or at least one of said aspects being turning said object to a different direction. An indication unit is arranged to receive the output signals and to thereby provide an indication of the operator performance.
The controllably movable object may be a vehicle, an overhead crane, a drag line, a power tool or the like.
The sensors may be of the type or types selected from one or more of the followings:
1-6 axis accelerometers;
1-3 axis gyroscopes
micro-switches;
inclination switches;
proximity switches and other position sensing devices;
current sensing transducers/voltage sensing transducers;
ultrasonic transducers;
infra red transducers;
radar transducers or other radio frequency devices;
microphones;
rain and moisture detectors;
temperature sensors;
humidity sensors;
pressure sensors;
liquid level sensors;
biological (perspectium)/physiological (Eg Eyes, hands etc)
potentiometers;
cameras;
video;
global positioning system;
radio direction finding system;
interfaces to object control system Eg engine and vehicle management systems; and
interfaces to object or vehicle guidance and navigation systems
The sensed operational parameters may include any one or a combination of two or more of the followings:
accelerations and decelerations;
orientation in multiple axes;
braking and retarding devices;
cornering;
lane changes;
smoothness of operating;
gear changes;
warning lights;
sound levels;
road quality;
weather conditions;
proximity to other objects;
speed;
position;
engine, motor or transmission operation characteristic; and
suspension characteristic.
In preference said one or more sensors are a plurality of single axial accelerometers or gyroscopes, or each said one or more sensors is a multi axial accelerometer or gyroscope.
It is preferred that said system includes filtering means for filtering signal noise components in the signals from the sensor(s). The filtering means may have one or more physical filters for filtering noise components from mechanical vibrations emanating from the movable object. Resilient mounting pads and vibration attenuator are examples of the physical filters.
The filtering means may also have one or more electrical noise filters for filtering electrical noise components. Examples of the electrical noise filters are passive filters, active filters and micro-processor or digital signal processor based signal processing filtering techniques.
Advantageously, the system includes calibration means for adjustably calibrating the system to suit the characteristics of operation, characteristics of moveable object and application of movable object and/or type of movable object. More advantageously the calibration means can also be calibrated to account for location, position, weather conditions, etc. Typically, for motor vehicles the calibration means can be used to calibrate preferred acceleration and braking thresholds for a particular model, or other operational preferences.
The calibration means is a self-contained or plug-in sub-system that allows persons wishing to use the system to:
Adjust for sensor variation across individual sensors;
Include quickly, new sensor types into the system;
Rapidly adjust the system for different controllably movable object types;
Set benchmarks for particular customer/operator requirements.
The calibration means operates at the logical rather than electrical level as all sensors will be given appropriate ancillary circuitry as required so as not to exceed safe operating characteristics of the invention.
The calibration means includes separate or integrated data acquisition and event recording capability that allows thresholds to be set by either operating the controllably movable object and recording when thresholds of performance have been reached as exceeded or by downloading thresholds from predetermined benchmarks (eg 10% better than the norm) or historical operation (eg 10% better than last week). Those thresholds may be stored in the recording means or analysing means to facilitate indication of undesirable operation during or after investigation periods.
The calibration means may have a physical or variable capacitance, resistance and/or inductance for adjusting the desirable, characteristics of operation. Alternatively the adjustment can be made by digitally adjusting calibration signals to the processing unit.
Conveniently the calibration can be adjusted by replacing a plug calibration module or by adjusting remotely via a communication link.
The signal processing unit typically includes signal recording means, user data input means and signal analysing means. It may also include an analogue to digital conversion means where the signals from the sensor(s) are analogue.
The signal recording means desirably includes a signal storage for storing the operational parameter signals or data from the sensor(s). The signals or data may be processed or raw. The signal storage can be non volatile memory, battery backed up memory, a disk drive, read and writable CD ROM, a tape drive, physical, magnetic or optical storage device, electrical, chemical, biological or the like.
Typically, the recording means has a continuous or discrete recording device or an event counter which can be a single or multiple event type. Preferably a real time clock is included so that the output from the recording device or the event counter is provided with time stamps. It may also include a data acquisition device coupled to the sensing unit. The data acquisition device may be a multiplexed system on communication bus or a PCMCIA card based acquisition system.
The recording means may be controlled remotely via a radio communication system, satellite, telephone, computer network or the like.
The user data input means is in the form of switches, touch screen, touch pad, key pad, ID card reader, biometric system, voice and the like for allowing entry of data such as operator identity, type of object, object characteristics, object application sensor type and location.
It is preferred that the system of the invention has an authorisation confirming arrangement so that only authorised persons can enter certain data or edit data.
The signal analysing means on command can retrieve signals from the signal recording means, process the retrieved signals with respect to the calibration means and provide out signals to the indication means for indicating processed performance of the operator.
Typically the performance is indicated in the form of performance level against time periods of operation, distance, location and application.
The form of indication may be physical graphical, alpha numeric, visual or audible.
The performance indication may. show performances of two or more operators over the same time periods so that the performances of the operators can be easily measured and evaluated.
The performance indication may also show selected aspects of the operator""s performance so that the aspects that require attention can be easily identified. Typically said aspects include acceleration, brake application, direction line, changing gear changes, proximity behind another vehicle, etc.
Typically the signal analysing system employs signal processing techniques such as Fourier transform, neural networks, artificial intelligence, pattern matching, spread sheet program, Data base and means, spectral analysis, and statistical and scenario modelling to derive the thresholds and displays for the performance indications.
The derivation may include comparing multiple signals, determining rates of change, determining correlation with pre-defined positive and negative patterns of operation and comparison of scores with distance travelled, time of operation or other criteria.
In a further aspect therefore the present invention resides in a power management arrangement for a system for monitoring and/or evaluating performance of an operator of a controllably movable object having operational parameters and at least one of the operational parameters is changeable when varying an aspect of operating behaviours of the operator. The arrangement comprises one or more movement detectors for providing an output signal when detecting movement of said object, a timing circuitry for timing a first predetermined time period following detection of output signal by said one or more movement detectors and a power control circuitry for controllably reducing power consumption when no output signal is detected following expiration of said first predetermined time period.
The power management arrangement may include linked microprocessors or digital signal processors providing a low power standby mode without compromising system performance.
The power management arrangement assists in allowing the system according to this invention to be relatively small in size and portable. It also allows the system to extend its periods of deployment.